Of Light & Shadow: A Tale Of The Dark Knight
by RavenDove
Summary: Batmans adventures with Ra's Al Ghoul's grandaughter.
1. Espirituse La Angeles

This story was originally posted in 2001 as three parts. This was before it was possible to post in chapters on FanFiction.Net. I have made the original first three part the first three chapters as they were intended. I hope to add more as time goes on, but I can't make promises.  
  
Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff  
  
Batman and all related characters are properties of DC Comics  
  
Of Light & Shadow : A tale of the Dark Knight by Lyda Mae Huff  
  
Chapter One- Espirituse La Angeles  
  
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She lived in the shadows; not because she wanted to, but because she had left all ties behind long ago. Perhaps it was better that way, but there was something to be said about simple human companionship. Though in all honesty she had never really known such a thing, not since she had been very small.  
  
Out there in the night someone was going to need her help; even though he didn't know it yet himself. The Dark Knight of Gotham waged his one man war on all the evils of the world. Tonight he would not fare well. Their paths would cross soon, and she Espirituse La Angeles would be the Knight's protector. She knew this the same way she knew everything else; she just knew.  
  
--------------------------   
  
Batman had known this was not going to be his night from the moment he had fallen through the roof of the building he had been watching. Only one weak spot on the whole roof, right next to the skylight. It had been a trap, and he hadn't seen it coming until he'd fallen right into the center of it. He'd gotten out of the building and now he was just trying to get away with his cowl intact.  
  
He went up to roof tops again only to find more goons waiting for him. He shot out a line to swing to the steeple of a church next door. Just as he was about to reach his mark the steeple exploded. He went tumbling head over heel; landing hard in the alley below. He was bleeding heavily from where shrapnel had caught him from the grenade that had sheared off the steeple. In that moment he thought, How ironic that it should be crime alley.  
  
A delicately small figure stepped out of shadows dressed all in white. Raising its arms aloft, and calling out the figure began to glow; images of demons began to dance in the air, and the rain of bullets stopped. The figures arms dropped, and the glow and demons faded.  
  
Batman looked up half conscious to see the figure approach; kneeling down to cradle his head. He could see now it is a girl with copper skin and dark eyes. Her manor was gentile, and she exuded an aura of trust. She put her lips to his ear and whispered softly "Don't worry Bruce; I will take care of you." He felt an overwhelming peace as his eyes closed.  
  
---------------------------   
  
Alfred had been anxious for Master Bruce's return since police reports had began to come in. He was there to greet the Batmobile when it arrived. He was not however expecting what he saw when the car's canopy opened. A mere child driving the car and Batman slumped over in the passenger seat. "Good heavens!" he exclaimed rushing to the passenger side of the car.  
  
The girl jumped out of the car and began chanting. She began to glow as Batman rose from the car and levitated over to where the examination table stood; the glow faded as he was gently laid upon the table. Without missing a beat Alfred hurried to see to his injuries.  
  
The girl joined him as he began to cut away the damaged costume. "I can be of more help Mr. Pennysworth." Her robe was open and the hood pulled back revealing dark brown hair tied neatly into an ornate style. She wore a long belted white shirt with fringe, and a long white skirt. She wore white soft leather boots, and carried a white leather bag. Even her belt, hair ornaments and beaded earrings were white.  
  
Alfred nearly dropped the scissors at the mention of his name. "How did you..."  
  
"Know your name." she finished. "I know a lot of things, and I am easily more than four times your age."  
  
"Four times?" he questioned skeptically. "What should I call you?"  
  
"Kemnika" she shrugged. Taking the scissors form Alfred's hand she finished cutting away the cloth and make shift bandage. "Clean the wounds good and I may be able to mend them."  
  
Alfred didn't question he just cleaned; pulling slivers of wood and metal from the wounds.  
  
When Kemnika was sure they were cleaned she held her hands over them and began chanting. The wounds closed into puffy pink scars. She sighed, "I'm afraid that's the best I can do."  
  
Alfred looked the scars over, "That's a fair sight better than what I could have done."  
  
Kemnika nodded, "He will probably sleep for some time. In the mean time I believe that Tim needs reassurances that I'm not the enemy." She turned to face the young man now standing on the stairway.  
  
"Master Timothy," Alfred said with a start, "I didn't hear your come down."  
  
"Who's she?" Timothy Drake asked pointing a finger at Kemnika.  
  
"I am a friend who knew where to be when I was needed." Kemnika said humblely. "Bruce will tell you what happened when he wakes up. Until then; I will stay here so that I can not tell anyone secrets. And I will tell you my deep dark secret to make things even."  
  
Tim looked at her skeptically, "Won't your parents worry?"  
  
"My parents have been dead for over a quarter of a millennia." Kemnika replied with a straight face. "I think they are a little beyond worrying."  
  
Tim regarded her even more skeptically. "I don't believe you."  
  
"Once you hear my deep dark secret you will." she put bluntly. "My grandfather is known by the name of Ra's Al Ghoul."  
  
Alfred gasped, "Ra's Al Ghoul..."  
  
"I haven't spoken to him since I found out he was behind my mother's murder." Kemnika admitted sadly. "After that I spent a lot of time alone."  
  
"My mother was killed by being thrown into a Lazarus pit. She was pregnant with me at the time. I was born into the Lazarus. I should have died with her, but I didn't." Kemnika tried to hold back the tears. "I aged normally until I was eight, then it slowed down."  
  
"How old are you?" Alfred asked gently.  
  
"Two-hundred and seventy-four." she sighed. "I'm very tired." she found a spot that was out of the way, pulled a blanket out of thin air; then curled up on the floor and went to sleep.  
  
Tim looked to Alfred, "Do you want to call Dick and Barbra, or shall I?"  
  
-----------------------  
  
Nightwing was perched on a gargoyle with binoculars trained on an apartment across the way when his com unit beeped. "This had better be good." he said looking at Alfred's face.  
  
"We have a lady claiming to be the granddaughter of Ra's Al Ghoul here." Alfred replied  
  
calmly.  
  
"Where is Batman?"  
  
"Unconscious I'm afraid. The lady apparently saved him from some heavily armed thugs earlier this evening." Alfred's eyebrow raised at that last remark.  
  
"You think she arranged it?"  
  
"I don't believe so, but I wouldn't be willing to take that chance."  
  
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Nightwing out." he shut down the unit shaking his head.  
  
Alfred was talking quietly with Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin. They are gathered around the entrance of the Batcave to be out of ear shot of the mysterious girl-woman. "She is still sleeping and I don't think it wise to disturb her." he warned.  
  
"Wise or not we need to know what she wants." Nightwing's anger was barely under control. He pushed the false wall aside, and began to descend.  
  
They found Kemnika in the same spot behind the exam table that she had curled up in nearly two hours before. Only, she was awake sitting wrapped in her blanket with her back to the wall. "I can not fight my grandfather alone Richard. The Batman is my ally in that war already."  
  
She raised her hand and with a gesture shoved it in to the wall behind her. Then pulling it out she stood, "You have my word that I am going nowhere." She chanted fading from view, then reappearing behind them. "And you could not stop me if I wanted to leave. If you wish a character witness; I suggest you seek out Jason Blood." At this she returned to her spot curled back up.  
  
Barbra looked at the wounds on Bruce's side. He still lay on the exam table; naked save  
  
for the sheet that covered him. "These wounds are recent, but they are almost healed."  
  
Alfred nodded, "That would be the lady's doing. He received those from the thugs I mentioned, or at least I believe that's how it happened."  
  
---------------------   
  
"She calls herself Kemnika." Robin told the ancient knight.  
  
Jason Blood laughed, "Espirituse La Angeles, I haven't seen her in at least fifty years. It sounds just like her too. Her sole purpose in life is to counter her grandfather's evil by doing good."  
  
Nightwing sighed, "Spirit of the Angels? You know her then."  
  
"Who do you think taught her sorcery?" Jason shrugged in his chair. "She has a natural gift for it. Her mother was the daughter of a tribal shaman. She also has the gift of Truesight; that is how she knows what she knows. The title is a long story."  
  
"Will you verify it is her in person?" Nightwing asked.  
  
"Gladly."  
  
-------------------   
  
Barbra found herself looking at the wounds again seeing them now as fading scars. She looked over to Kemnika to find her standing; her clothing still immaculately white and unwrinkled. "So how long have you been awake?" a little bit of sarcasm tinged her voice.  
  
"Not long." she replied folding her blanket out of existence.  
  
"Long enough." Jason boomed from the stairwell. "So what else have you been up to Little Angel?"  
  
"Only the usual Jason." she said embracing her old friend. "It has been far to long."  
  
Bruce began to stir. Alfred was immediately at his side. "It's alright Sir."  
  
As every one began to gather around the table where he lay he began to question hoarsely.  
  
"Alfred; where is she?"  
  
"She who Sir.?" Alfred questioned.  
  
"The girl who saved my life." They all looked around, but Kemnika was gone. "I swear  
  
she looked like an angel."  
  
Jason Blood answered, "She was here, but she just left. She is no longer needed here; it's  
  
her way."  
  
END FIRST CHAPTER 


	2. Little Angel

Of Light & Shadow: A Tale Of The Dark Knight by Lyda Mae Huff  
  
Chapter Two- Little Angel  
  
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Batman had tailed the pusher from Crime Alley to the docks; hoping to catch his supplier. He gazed even now through the warehouses upper windows. Some thing was going down.  
  
"There are thirty-four children inside that building." a soft familiar voice said.  
  
He looked over to see the white clad figure who had saved his life in Crime Alley not two weeks before. She crouched low, but even in her skirts and robes she seemed unencumbered. Indeed; she looked every bit as angelic as her tile, Espirituse La Angeles, implied. Even he had a hard time believing this girl could be Ra's Al Ghoul's nearly three-hundred year old granddaughter Kemnika. "How do you..." he began to ask, but thinking the better of it. "Jason said you knew Things. So I'll assume you know why they are there." He pulled his binoculars back up to his eyes.  
  
"Jesus Delatory is the big boss; he has some sick ideas about disposable labor." she did not even try to hold the contempt from her voice.  
  
"You mean he has children packaging rock in there?" Batman asked with a mixture of surprise and disgust.  
  
"Not just any children either; orphans off of South American streets that have no one to miss them if something happens."  
  
"And they can't just run to the authorities if they get away." He was beginning to understand what the sick idea was.  
  
She looked up at him sadly. "When they are done with one operation they get rid of the evidence; kids included."  
  
"And this one's finished tonight." he looked down at her putting his binoculars away. Hoods began leaving the warehouse.  
  
"There will be three men in the office including Delatory, two guards will remain at the front door, four guards on the children, two at the back door and a look out on the other side to tell them when the police patrol has passed." she scratched out a diagram on the worn roof.  
  
"We'll need to take out the look out and then the guards from both doors if we want to take them by surprise."  
  
"After we take out the children's guards I'll get them out of the building and over to that empty lot two buildings west."  
  
"And I'll go after Delatory." the Batman nodded. "In order to be closer to the children you should come in from behind."  
  
"The patrol will pass in fifteen minutes. Just give me five minutes to get over there and disable the look out." She stood chanting the spell that would make her invisible.  
  
------------------  
  
Batman slipped down from the skylight without sound, coming in just behind the front door guards. Through the corner of his eye he saw the angelic figure of Espirituse La Angeles walk through the wall. She reached out seizing the two nearest guards and allowed them to fall to the floor unconscious. When the two guards in front of him turned to see what was going on; Batman grabbed both of their heads and knocked them together. Espirituse cast a spell making the other two guards drop their guns and fall to their knees. Her angelic aura glowed even brighter as she rendered them unconscious in the same manor as the first two.  
  
The children were too busy looking at the angel to even notice his presence. Espirituse La  
  
Angeles raised her hands chanting in Latin, and their chains fell away. She called out in Spanish, and again in Portuguese. {Come with me. I will lead you to safety.} Then pushing the back door aside, they were gone.  
  
Batman turned his attention to the guards coming down the stairs from the office. They were the perfect picture of South American drug runners; tailored suits, and slicked back hair. Each with a big gun to hide his little ego.  
  
He rolled under the stairs; dodging their fire. He leaped to the top of a crate and over the rail onto the second level before they could react. Toppling some chemical drums down the stairs he managed to pin them both.  
  
Jesus Delatory was a small, wiry man with a neat mustache and ponytail. His manicured  
  
fingernails looked out of place next to blued gun metal. "So I finally meet the legendary Batman." The little worm said as he ashed his cigar.  
  
The creature before him was not worthy of contempt. "Your guards aren't coming." Batman glided forward on the words.  
  
"They should have killed you at the church," Jesus glared, "they assured me you were six feet under. They said they had seen you claimed by the pits of Hell."  
  
"Almost," Batman slapped cuffs on the man's wrists, "but not quite."  
  
Delatory did not resist, releasing his pistol into The Dark Knight's hand.  
  
--------------------  
  
Montoya was tired of Bullock's whining. If it wasn't one thing with him; it was another.  
  
Just then something caught Montoya's eye. "Harvey pull over."  
  
"What for?" her slob of a partner questioned.  
  
Montoya had lost all patience. "Just do it Bullock." She practically leaped from the car as it stopped.  
  
Montoya could swear she had seen Nena in the alleyway they had just passed. Nena Swensen was a small woman with long blond hair. Montoya had found her intriguing to say the least. They had first met when Montoya had tried to bust the mystic for a curfew violation; only to find she was the same age as Montoya herself was.  
  
Nena emerged from the alleyway untouched by the elements in her louse blouse, and long filmy skirt. Her blue eyes looked at Montoya with urgency. "Detective; you need to come with me."  
  
The little Mystic began to run down the street; Montoya followed with Bullock reluctantly in tow. Nena led them to a vacant lot. There, huddled next to one of the buildings; were thirty-four dirty little souls. Some looking up with fear, others with wonderment.  
  
"I was looking for Gina, when I saw them." Nena shook her head.  
  
Montoya was already on the radio calling for assistance. When she looked up she raised an eyebrow "The organ grinder's monkey got out again?"  
  
"Yes." was all Nena could say.  
  
"She couldn't have gotten this far on her own Nena." Montoya admonished the Mystic.  
  
"I follow things you can't understand Detective." Nena grasped at her head, and nearly fell into Bullock.  
  
Montoya caught her, "Are you alright?"  
  
"Just tired."  
  
Montoya accepted this; having seen Nena like this before.  
  
A little girl; who couldn't have been more than nine came forward. {Did you see the Angel that led us here?} she asked in Spanish.  
  
{What Angel?} Montoya asked back.  
  
{The one that helped us escape the bad men.}  
  
END SECOND CHAPTER 


	3. Demon Rising

IMPORTANT NOTE: This story contains the second of only two tarot readings that I have written in my life. The first was in a James Bond story called Remember Ulysses. I will not write another Tarot read in my life for Religions reasons. Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff  
  
Of Light & Shadow: A Tale Of The Dark Knight by Lyda Mae Huff  
  
Chapter Three- Demon Rising  
  
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Bruce Wayne sat reading his morning paper; though he had a hard time concentrating on the news at hand. The front page headline read: Mysterious White Figure Rescues Children From Death.  
  
He found himself wondering where Kemnika had gone to last night. After leading the children from Delatory's warehouse she had simply disappeared. Just like she had disappeared from the Batcave after saving his life. What was it Jason Blood had said, "It's her way." He looked down to find his coffee had gone cold.  
  
Tim entered the room, dressed for a Saturday, sliding to halt by the table. "So what's the plan for today."  
  
Bruce folded the paper open to an advertisement; Fall Carnival in Gotham City Park Today. "They're holding a charity carnival and bazaar in the park today to raise money for Saint Agnes's church. The one that was damaged two weeks ago."  
  
"Sounds like fun." Tim replied doluping jam on his toast.  
  
--------------------  
  
Detective Montoya walked up to an old tenement building. A man in his mid- thirties, with brown skin and dark hair, stood in costume grinding and old box organ. He held a leash in one hand; on the end was a Macaque monkey in a little red dress. "I see you found her, Tony."  
  
"The strangest thing Detective." the organ grinder replied. "Sometime after you left last night she must have climbed in the window, but I swear they were all shut."  
  
"I've heard of stranger things Tony." Montoya said as she entered the building.  
  
--------------------  
  
The elevator had been out of order for the last three weeks. So Montoya climbed the stairs to the third floor. The whole building was somewhat run down. Montoya followed the hall to apartment thirty-three. She knocked at the door; no answer. Montoya pulled the spare key from her purse. She hadn't wanted to accept the key at first, but it was the only way she could get Nena to stop keeping it in the potted plant next to her door.  
  
She opened the door and called out, "Nena." There was no answer. She looked around; knowing Nena did not always answer to her name. She found the little Mystic in the bathtub, and Montoya could swear she was asleep with a far off look.  
  
She knelt down and touched Nena's shoulder; Trying to give her gentle shake. "Nena."  
  
Nena jumped causing bubbles to fly. She looked over to find what had disturbed her. "I didn't hear you come in Maria."  
  
"I don't think you could hear me." Montoya admitted as she stood.  
  
Nena grabbed for her sponge; looking a little sheepish. "I've been having visions of late that are quite dark, and very involving."  
  
"Care to tell me about them?" Montoya asked.  
  
"I don't think I can." Nena sighed.  
  
Montoya did not question any further; knowing that Nena's visions were always more than they seemed. "Are you going to be ready for this carnival?"  
  
"Deacon Davis has my tent, and table there already." Nena said, scrubbing her face. She rinsed, "Once I'm dressed we can take the rest of the stuff over."  
  
--------------------  
  
Bruce and Tim meandered through the tents and tables offering different games and wares. There was a Farris wheel at the other end of the park with a few other rides. Bruce had arranged for them once the word of the carnival had reached him. His official reasoning being the church's historical significance. Simple fact was; he liked to clean up his messes.  
  
Bruce found himself drawn to a purple tent with the golden letters, FORTUNE TELLER, above the door. He found Detective Montoya standing over a table with a plate of scones. Behind the table sat a beautiful, platinum blond girl in a heavy, mid-evil dress that was purple, and gold like the tent. On the table sat various fortune telling implements; a crystal ball, a small burlap bag marked with a rune, and a deck of tarot cards.  
  
Montoya looked up, "Mr. Wayne; allow me to introduce Nena Swensen. She moved to Gotham only two months ago."  
  
"And yet I hear she was the one who started this whole Fall Carnival business." Bruce replied with his usual lilt. He took the Fortune Tellers delicate hand and found himself kissing it.  
  
"You flatter me Mr. Wayne." Nena said with more authority than her little frame should have had.  
  
"Please; call me Bruce."  
  
"Only if you promise not to call me a charlatan." Nena got a look on her face that Montoya recognized. "I believe you are after a private reading."  
  
"Something to do with that dream I interrupted?" Montoya asked.  
  
"Maybe," Nena raised an eyebrow at the Detective, "maybe not."  
  
Montoya was getting the picture. "I'll leave these hear for you then." She set the plate of scones on the corner of the table. "Just don't let yourself become the flavor of the month." Then she left.  
  
Tim had watched the whole exchange from the door, and didn't like what Montoya had implied.  
  
"This is my ward Timothy Drake." Bruce gestured for Tim to come into the tent.  
  
Nena smiled at Tim, "Very strong for one so young. You may stay Tim." She gestured to a chair at the side of her table. "As for you Bruce; I charge ten dollars." she gestured to the seat directly across from her.  
  
Bruce sat pulling his wallet out. "For the church." he placed a ten dollar bill on the table.  
  
Nena took the cards into her hand, and began to shuffle. She spread them out on the table and set Bruce's right hand on them. "What question do you wish to ask?"  
  
He looked into her ice blue eyes, "Where dose the path I'm on lead?"  
  
She gathered up the cards, and began to shuffle again. When she finished she set the deck in front of Bruce, "Cut."  
  
Bruce did as she said not taking his eyes off of hers.  
  
She pulled the first card off the top of the deck, placing it face up on the table. "The World, ill-dignified. You have unfinished business." She pulled another card placing it to the out side and at an angle to the first. "The King of Swords, dignified. You are very driven by something that happened to you a long time ago." She pulled a third card placing it across from the first "Four of Swords, ill-dignified. It is time for renewed action." She place the fourth card so that in made three card angling in and toward her. "Eight of Cups, ill-dignified. A new friendship may help." The fifth card was across from the third; beginning the angle out and away. "The High Priestess, ill-dignified. There is a woman who has entered your life recently; you must be willing to trust her." She placed the sixth card to complete the angle. "Six of Penticals, ill-dignified. You are at a point of personal peril."  
  
"Can you elaborate on that?" Bruce asked intently.  
  
She pulled another card and place it on top of the sixth. "The Devil. Something wicked this way comes... A Demon you may have thought dead." The seventh, and finale card was placed making an open diamond. "The Ace of Wands, ill-dignified." She looked up from the cards. "In the end you will neither win, or loose. You have chosen a path in life; that will bring you no peace."  
  
Bruce looked at her eyes once more, but the spell was broken. One thing was certain though; Nena was not a charlatan. Bruce stood, "Thank you Nena; that was an interesting experience."  
  
She gathered up the Tarot. "What I have read was for your ears alone. It stays here in this  
  
moment, and may change in the next."  
  
Bruce nodded, and Tim followed the gesture in turn.  
  
"Before you go; take this." she pulled a card from the air.  
  
Bruce took the card looking at the embossed rune symbol on it. "What is it?"  
  
"The Viking rune for thorn." she replied taking a bite of a scone. "Advice not to act without thinking."  
  
He place the card in his pocket, and thanked her again. Then he and Tim left.  
  
-------------------  
  
"That was weird." Tim commented when they were what he judged as a safe distance from the tent.  
  
Bruce pulled the card from his pocket, and looked at it again. It had changed. "Who have we recently met that looks like a child, but has the wisdom of more than one lifetime?"  
  
Tim halted in mid-step. "You mean..."  
  
Bruce held the card so Tim could read it.  
  
THE DEMON RISES... WE MEET WHERE OUR PATHS CROSSED. MIDNIGHT; COME ALONE.  
  
It was signed with only a little angel at the bottom.  
  
Bruce returned the card to his pocket with the sneaking suspicion it would be gone the next time he reached for it.  
  
He looked up to see Dick and Barbra in tow coming toward them. Dick had parcel under one arm. "I take it you found something interesting in the bazaar." Bruce commented.  
  
"I found an old painting that you're bound to find interesting." Dick smiled. "It has a rather angelic subject."  
  
Bruce raised an eyebrow, "Who was selling it?"  
  
"The artists Granddaughter." Dick shrugged. "She said his paintings were just taking up space in her attic, and she had never been able to give them away; let alone sell one before."  
  
Bruce began to walk toward food pavilion. "No doubt she had a interesting story to tell."  
  
"Something about the girl in the painting having saved her grandfather's life actually."  
  
END THIRD CHAPTER 


	4. Society Of The Angel

For those of you have read the first three chapters before, here is chapter four. Finally.  
  
Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff  
  
Of Light & Shadow: A Tale Of The Dark Knight by Lyda Mae Huff Chapter Four- Society Of The Angel  
  
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It was just before sunset and Bruce Wayne stood alone in the Bat cave as he removed brown paper from a mysterious parcel. It was a painting that Dick Grayson had purchased at a bazaar in Gotham Park earlier that day.  
  
Bruce examined the painting. There was no doubt that the girl in it was the half American Indian half European Kemnika. She was dressed as a postulant Carmalite nun from the early twentieth century, and somehow the guise suited her.  
  
The frame had o note written on the brown paper backing. 'Sister Agnes Angelica, St. Agnes's church, City of Gotham 1909.' There was a slight tear in the paper a t the bottom of the frame, and when Bruce probed it a metal object fell to the floor.  
  
He picked up the object and examined it more closely. It was a pin in the shape of an old fashioned angel statue. He turned it over and found an inscription on the back in fine print. 'Societio de La Angel'. "Society of The Angel." he said to himself.  
  
Kemnika might have an explanation for this, but Bruce was going to run a search through the Batcomputer before he went to meet her tonight.  
  
--------------------  
  
Espirituse La Angeles sat on the roof of St. Agnes Church above Crime Alley. Anyone looking up would mistake her for a statue. Just another angel on an old church. Batman's footfalls behind her were unsurprising. "You're seventeen minutes early." she said without moving.  
  
"Or maybe I'm right on time." he said as he crouched next to her. "If you were expecting me."  
  
She chuckled slightly. "You're right on time." said The Little Angel.  
  
"I have questions that need answers." Batman said.  
  
"Nena is only one guise that I have taken over the years." she said already guessing the first one.  
  
"And was Sister Agnes Angelica another guise?" he asked.  
  
"Yes." she said. "Sister Angelica was another guise, and Hirra Faddel, and Ahliha Johnfire ..."  
  
"I get the point."said Batman taking a moment to survey the alley below. "How do you change ethnicity?"  
  
"Same way I walk through walls and make myself invisible." she said.  
  
"If you can change your looks with magic, why can't you make yourself look like an adult?" he asked.  
  
"I can't change my apparent age or my gender, though I've never found that a problem."  
  
"So you have limits?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Little Angel said, "I have limits. I can't bring back the dead."  
  
"And what about Societio de La Angela?" Batman asked.  
  
"They can't bring back the dead either." she joked.  
  
"You should know I'm not a joking person." said Batman.  
  
"Society of The Angel members are my aides in all things." said Little Angel.  
  
"In your fight against your grandfather you mean." said Batman.  
  
"Mostly," she said, "but they are sworn to give aid to all in need of The Angel's grace."  
  
"That includes?" he asked.  
  
"The innocent and the penatent." she said. "All of those I aid may become my allies, though I don't ask it of all, and any may refuse."  
  
"You have not asked it of me." he said.  
  
"I do not see you as the type that would accept." she said.  
  
Batman held up the pin. "I have found pictures of at least one-hundred and seventeen different people in news papers in the last fifty years wearing this pin."  
  
"Politicians, police officers, and relief workers no doubt." Little Angel said.  
  
"Most of them." he admitted.  
  
Espirituse La Angeles turned to face him finally. "My grandfather is coming."  
  
"Al Ghoul?" Batman asked.  
  
"I saw it in a vision this morning." she said.  
  
"The dream that Montoya mentioned."  
  
Little Angel nodded.  
  
"So he survived the caverns." said Batman.  
  
"As did Aunt Talia." said Little Angel.  
  
"Do you have any idea what they are up to?"  
  
"Maria woke me up before I saw that part." The Little Angel said.  
  
END CHAPTER FOUR 


End file.
